Floyd Mayweather Jr. put forth a virtuoso performance against the less experienced Saul (Canelo) Alvarez on Saturday, hitting and not getting hit. But it wasn’t just Mayweather’s treatment of Alvarez that was so notable. Golden Boy Promotions orchestrated one of the more ambitious and successful advertising campaigns for the fight, giving fans a hint of what the future of the sport could one day hold.

But just as boxing took a step forward, it was dragged back into its murky past when the judge’s scorecards were announced on Saturday at the MGM Grand. Only two of the three judges acknowledged Mayweather’s dominance, with C.J. Ross, a scorer with a checkered past, the lone dissenter.

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Ross scored the fight a draw at 114-114, deciding that Mayweather, 36, had only won six of the 12 rounds. The other two judges scored it for Mayweather: 116-112 (Dave Moretti) and 117-111 (Craig Metcalfe), giving the Pound-for-Pound King a majority decision victory. When Mayweather (45-0, 26 knockouts) heard the verdict in the ring, he thought someone was pulling his leg.

Even Justin Bieber, who walked Mayweather to the ring beforehand, looked upset. Ross scored four of the final five rounds for Alvarez.

“I thought it was a joke,” Mayweather told an ESPN television reporter shortly after the bout. Earlier in the ring he said: “I’m not in control of the judges. I’m a little in shock but everything is a learning experience.”

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“She hurt the game,” said Floyd Mayweather Sr., the father and trainer for Floyd Jr. “For the biggest fight in the world in the history of boxing- you know what everyone is saying? Boxing is crooked. It’s crooked.”

On a night when the public was finally turning its attention to a sport that has mostly lived on the margins, fans got a taste of why so many have turned their backs on it in recent years: because of the head-scratching decisions by either corrupt or incompetent judges that continue to mar big fights.

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Floyd Mayweather Jr. puts on a boxing clinic against Canelo Alvarez.

“The judge C.J. Ross should be investigated had some money on the fight” Nets point guard Deron Williams posted on his Twitter account.

Many wondered aloud how Ross got the assignment to judge the biggest fight of the year. Ross is the same judge that awarded a controversial split decision victory to Timothy Bradley against Manny Pacquiao last year when most observers thought Pacquiao did enough to win. In most sports, it’s the best officials who get to referee the most important events, based on their previous performances. But that doesn’t always happen in boxing, said Showtime boxing chief, Stephen Espinoza. No one from the Nevada State Athletic Commission was immediately available for comment after the fight.

“That’s one area where the sport really needs to improve,” Espinoza said of the judging. “Other major sports such as the NFL, such as in college basketball use their best officials for their biggest events. And I think that’s something that boxing should incorporate and I really don’t see that being taken into account. We dodged a bullet in a sense because in a closer fight, you’d hate for [Ross’ scorecard]to be the deciding factor.”

Schaefer suggested the Nevada commission use the money it made on the fight on seminars to better educate judges. The fight set an all-time live gate record of $20,003,150 on Saturday.

“The Nevada commission made a lot of money tonight,” Schaefer said afterward. “I’m sure they can pay for some educational seminars for some of the officials. I would call that putting the money to good use. I respect the commission. But they’re going to have to live with their mistakes.”